Eleven civil seizure warrants were issued to suspects in 6 states last week of Nov. and DirecTV’s signal integrity group recovered “substantial amount” of illegal devices in raids as company continued to put emphasis on its civil litigation strategy. DirecTV has significantly increased its enforcement efforts, making more than 60 criminal raids this year, but also has watched number of cases increase, said Larry Rissler, pres.- Signals Integrity for DirecTV. Company used civil seizure authority in at least 20 cases this year, he said. Search warrants were executed 3 times, resulting in recovery of $4.6 million in illegal devices, he said.
Level 9 Sound Designs purchased Sonigistix, terms not disclosed. Level 9, itself recently acquired by E. Asia Technology (EasTech), will combine Sonigistix’s line of Monsoon flat-panel speakers with its Planar Focus Technology (PFT) that improves sonic imaging by minimizing reflections off hard surfaces located next to speakers, Pres. Jack Fatum said. Level 9 intends to expand Monsoon line in focusing on specific segments of CE market including videogames, Fatum said. Sonigistix got start in U.S. market developing Monsoon brand flat-panel speakers for car audio and PC markets. It expanded into home theater earlier this year, introducing 3 flat-panel, floor-standing models designed to start at $1,200. Singapore-based E. Asia builds audio, video and Internet appliance products but has focused speaker business on building models for PCs and home theater systems. Among its OEM customers was Sonigistix in addition to Denon, Harman International’s JBL and Infinity brands, Mission and Recoton.
Unnamed investor provided Palm with $50 million in financing to help fund company’s wireless and corporate sales efforts, company said Fri. Investment is convertible into Palm shares at $4.63, which it said was 130% of average price of Palm shares 5 days before closing of deal. Palm can force conversion of bond any time after year if its shares trade above $7.13 for some period of time. Note has 5-year term, 5% interest rate. Palm has said it would hire additional employees for corporate sales even as it scaled back in other areas. It recently said it would lay off 250 employees. Palm also is in process of spinning off operating system business, task that’s expected to be completed in first half 2002. Palm shares closed week at $3.72.
Ritek subsidiary U-Tech Media will boost monthly output of prerecorded DVD discs to 10 million in 2002 from current 8 million. To meet increased demand, U-Tech plans to gradually change over its 15 CD-ROM lines to DVD-video, although it won’t abandon CD-ROM business, Chmn. Chang Chau-fan told DigiTimes. Global demand for DVD-video discs is forecast to rise to 1.8 billion units in 2002, up from projected 990 million this year, he said.
Despite hype over next-generation videogame consoles, Infogrames Senior Sales & Distribution Vp Wim Stocks said “PC games business is thriving and titles for gamers of all ages and interests are selling.” Saying company’s PC games had been among top performers in NPD’s top 10 PC chart, he said “we have every expectation that these [PC games] will continue to perform throughout the holiday season.”
EMachines was granted early termination of waiting period under Hart-Scott Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act for proposed $166 million sale of company to EM Holdings, it said in SEC filing. EM Holdings’ $1.06 per share tender offer for eMachines, which expires Dec. 27, would take latter private with largely same management including CEO Wayne Inouye. EM Holdings’ parent is KDS America, whose CEO Lap Shun Hui, also is member of eMachines board.
About 10,000 Matsushita Electric Industrial domestic employees have applied for early retirement as CE manufacturer fights to restore profitability. In U.S., closing date for “voluntary resignation” program, which spokesman said was different from Japan plan, was Dec. 3.
Electronics Boutique CEO Jeffrey Griffiths filed with SEC to sell 30,000 shares valued at $1 million. He controls 133,936 shares. Senior Vp-Chief Information Officer Seth Levy registered to sell 20,000 shares valued at $723,066; he owns 43,096.
ATI Technologies stock hit 52-week high Fri. after Markham, Ont., graphics chip maker said first quarter results would show increased revenue and improved profitability in line with analysts’ consensus estimates. COO David Orton said: “We are pleased with the revenue growth we have seen in our core business during the first quarter and also with the earnings contribution that has resulted from the very successful launch of Nintendo’s GameCube, for which ATI developed the graphics technology.” He also said that for rest of fiscal 2002, “we continue to be optimistic about our ability to increase market share, as we have been generating significant design wins in the desktop and mobile segments.” Orton added: “We are beginning to see positive effects from our new business strategy in the worldwide system integrator channel and we look forward to a continued strong flow of royalties from sales of the GameCube console.” ATI said it would release full results for quarter Jan. 9.